Miles Lord: Minnesota’s Maverick Judge will air on TPT/Twin Cities PBSon Sunday, Nov. 19. Here’s a preview.More about the book. BY ROBERTA WALBURN There was once a generation of young Minnesotans who, imbued with a social-gospel populism, set out to make their state, their nation, and their world a better place for all. Especially in … More Judge Miles Lord: Our Brothers’ and Sisters’ Keeper
BY CAITLIN DeSILVEYAssociate professor of cultural geography at the University of Exeter. She is currently a fellow at the Centre for Advanced Study in Olso, Norway. ‘The art of losing’s not too hard to master,’ wrote Elizabeth Bishop, ‘though it may look… like disaster’. Mastering the art of losing—now there’s a project for the 21st … More The Art of Losing
BY BRIAN MCMAHONExcerpt from The Ford Century in Minnesota Ascent of the AutoworkersThe Postwar Boom and ChallengesWhen [World War II] ended, there were about twenty-five million cars on the road, and most were more than ten years old. People wanted new cars and Ford was eager to meet the pent-up demand. Several hundred workers, including … More The Ford Century in Minnesota: The Postwar Boom and Challenges
BY MARK NEUZILProfessor of communication and journalism, University of St. Thomas, St. Paul, MN “Everyone believes in something. I believe I will go canoeing” is a comment attributed to Henry David Thoreau, who could make a claim as America’s most famous canoeist. Regardless of whether he wrote it or not, I have understood what the … More "I have spent a life in canoes."
BY RICK SHEFCHIK We knew Alzheimer’s would take Bobby Vee from us eventually, but it still seems too soon, too much, too unfair. Wasn’t he just 15? Didn’t he just step confidently onto that stage in Moorhead and make his first public appearance in place of Buddy Holly? Didn’t he just reel off a string … More On Bobby Vee, a great man to the core.
Prior to the late nineteenth century, the practice of tipping in the United States was consideredhumiliating to waiters.Image source: An 1899 edition of Their Wedding Journey by William Dean Howells. BY KELLY ERBYAssistant professor of history at Washburn University Today, when Americans go out to eat at a restaurant that provides table service, it is … More The U.S. custom of tipping at restaurants, from the 1800s to now
BY LYNN MIE ITAGAKIAssociate professor, The Ohio State University Violence in the Middle East. Upheavals in Europe. Anxieties about American decline. Economic fears. A recent recession. Police brutality caught on video. Interracial conflict. Attacks on the police. A Clinton presidential campaign. The year was 1992, although it could just as easily be 2016. On the … More On the vengeance of a divided country, 1992 and 2016
Local 879, seen in this solidarity march in St. Paul, was a national leaderduring the 1980s and 1990s in promoting workers’ rights and fair trade.Image from the author’s collection. BY BRIAN McMAHON Henry Ford, founder of Ford Motor Company, vowed on many occasions that he would never allow a labor union. When workers at a … More The UAW Local 879, 75 years ago: Ford, FDR, and the hard-fought battles behind the launch of this legendary labor leader.
Scott LeDoux, also known as Minnesota’s Rocky, stares down Muhammad Alibefore their five-round exhibition in December 1977.Image courtesy of the family of Scott LeDoux. BY PAUL LEVY Scott LeDoux loved talking about Muhammad Ali. He fought the champ in a five-round exhibition in Chicago in 1977. LeDoux and his manager visited Ali at his California … More Minnesota boxing legend Scott LeDoux stepped into the ring with Muhammad Ali
Built to haul enormous cargo tonnage to ports all around the Great Lakes, the Morrellwas one of only a handful of 600-foot freighters at the time of her launching in 1906. An excerpt (modified from the Prologue) from the forthcoming book Torn in Two: The Sinking of the Daniel J. Morrell and One Man’s Survival … More Carelessness and fate: One man’s survival on the open sea
